Tag Archives: billchamplin

I still haven’t done the West Coast drive between LA and San Fran, but I know which music I’ll have on in the Pontiac Firebird when I do: it’s a toss-up between Steely Dan and Eric Tagg.

Probably best known for his work with guitarist Lee Ritenour on the Rit and Rit 2 albums, Tagg possesses a soulful, velvety voice, pitched somewhere between Stevie Wonder and Donald Fagen (some have also drawn comparisons to David Pack and George Michael). To these ears, his compositions also sound superior to a lot of similar material.

He released three solo albums in the ’70s/early ’80s, the best of which (Dreamwalkin’) was produced by Ritenour. Tagg was born in Chicago but spent his formative musical years in Holland singing with Dutch bands Rainbow Train and Beehive. Gravitating to Los Angeles in the mid-’70s, he embarked on a solo career and joined Ritenour for their successful double act. But over the last 30 years he’s slowly retreated from public life, mainly devoting himself to writing Christian songs at his Texas base.

Let’s go back to that golden time for West Coast music, the early ’80s, and focus on six of Eric’s best from the era.